


Fools

by outer_space_beech



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Carnival, F/M, Friends to Lovers, High School, Senior year, breakfast at diners, fire escape, jakes mum is there briefly, much excitement, paint fight, rooftop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:56:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21670693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outer_space_beech/pseuds/outer_space_beech
Summary: Jake, Amy, Rosa, Gina and Charles are in their senior year. Due to unfortunate circumstances Amy ends up spending a lot of the summer with Jake – that definitely won’t affect her last year in school… or will it?A lot can happen in one year, especially at high school.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	1. Summer Lovin' (sorta)

**Author's Note:**

> I can't get enough of enemies to lovers/friends to lovers and I can't get enough of the high school au so here I am, adding to the mix. I hope yall enjoy it - title is based off the song Fools by Lauren Aquilina <3

It was annoying that all the friends she was closest with had gone away for the summer. Rosa was probably in hell with her family, Gina having gone on a cruise with her mother and Charles was probably on a “boys’ trip” with his father (Amy would rather not think about what weird father-son activities they’d be doing). So, Amy was left to either do summer homework and then read as many books in the library as she could, or hang out with the only person in their little group still at home – Jake Peralta.

They had met in middle school when Gina wouldn’t stop pestering Rosa to sit with her. Amy’s only friend was Rosa because Rosa scared off some boys that were trying to bully Amy, so she followed when Rosa finally gave in to Gina. They met Gina’s friends (or as Gina put it “My friend and some other guy who I can’t get rid of”); Jake Peralta and Charles Boyle.

Her and Jake had never been that close, mainly because they were such different people. Jake was messy and unorganised, whereas Amy had anything and everything in her life organised, from her binders all the way down to how she set up the pencils on her desk. But when he wasn’t being incredibly annoying and ruining the order of her pencils, Jake was able to make Amy laugh and even got her to be a little bit daring at times. Daring just meant trying a different ice cream flavour.

That is exclusively what they did together, Amy would’ve guessed she spent easily $100 on ice cream alone that summer. Jake would get bored, text Amy that he was bored so many times that she caved, and he’d suggest getting ice cream again, and she could never say no to ice cream. Amy had the suspicion that Jake wanted to try every flavour on the menu – and this ice cream store had a BIG menu.

“Amy you gotta try something different, you get vanilla every time” Jake said dramatically while waiting in line to order, almost jumping with excitement.

“But vanilla is nice” She was shifting from one foot to the other and shoved her hands inside the shallow pockets of her shorts.

“That’s great and all but today you’re gonna get cookies and cream and there is nothing you can do to stop it since I’m paying”

“But you’re broke”

“That is true, so you’re gonna pay _buuuuut_ I’m gonna pick what flavour you get, dealio” He threw his arm over her shoulders.

“Fine then”

Amy rolled her eyes and shoved his arm off her, even under the air con in the ice cream shop his arm was warm and immediately started making the back of her neck sweat. _Stupid Brooklyn summer_ she thought as they waited.

“Happy 18th, sorry everyone else couldn’t be here, I did text Gina that it was your birthday and she asked ‘who’s Amy’ but I’m sure she meant happy birthday”

“Thanks Jake, I appreciate it”

He had gotten her a gift card to the ice cream place they had gone to for most of the summer, school started back up in a few weeks, so they’d have to use it up quick.

Amy’s mum then noticed Jake standing by the door and offered him dinner, Jake knew it would annoy Amy, so he delightfully said yes. Jake originally accepted to piss off Amy, Jake stayed for so long because of how good Camila Santiago’s cooking was. Jake looked like he was going to be sick but just couldn’t stop.

“Thank you so much Mrs Santiago, that was so good” Jake rubbed his belly and Camila laughed.

“You’re most welcome, and please, call me Camila. I hope we get to see more of you, Jake”

“If you keep cooking lasagne like this, Camila, I’ll never leave” They both laughed while Amy just rolled her eyes.

Amy needed Jake out of her house now so that she could finish her summer studying, he was dragging dinner out ten minutes longer than she had planned for. Jake was just annoying, butting in and ruining her schedule constantly.

A week later it was Jakes birthday, it had annoyed Amy how close together they were but its not like she had any say in the matter. She brought him a steel book Die Hard DVD, Amy knew he already had the DVDs but they were old and starting to wear so she got him a version that should hopefully last him as long as he chooses to obsess over the movie.

“Ugh, I have so many classes with you”

“Yes I will annoy you so much but not enough that you can tell a teacher, I can’t wait”

“Its senior year Jake, maybe take it a little bit seriously”

“Hmmmm no”

**_Maths_ ** _, Mrs Daniels – with Jake.  
 **English** , Mr Holt – with Jake.  
 **Art,** Mr Jeffords – with Jake.   
**Chemistry** , Mr Yee – with Rosa.  
 **History** , Mr Cozner – with Jake and Charles.  
 **Business** , Mrs Wuntch – with Gina._

Should be an interesting school year.


	2. School Starts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School begins!

The first day of school went exactly how Amy expected it to, as it always had really. The teachers introduced their classes and the topics they’d be covering over the year, Amy’s favourite part being what tests and assignments they’d be getting. As the teachers were doing their best to not scare the seniors too much Jake decided to zone out almost immediately, he asked Amy for a pencil (she always carried a spare) and then chewed on the end of it for the whole day. She was on the verge of tears watching her pencil get ruined by his stupid teeth.

Then during lunch, he wouldn’t stop making up stupid songs, and the worst was when Charles would join in and encourage him. The best parts of her day were the classes she didn’t have with Jake, the whole TWO classes she had without him. The best things Jake did that day was arrive on time for the first time since they started high school, and when he left school and Amy didn’t have to see him again. But she probably would since his apartment is only one building away from hers, the universe just kept shoving her in his direction and Amy wanted to punch the universe for it.

Monday 9:05am, week 2 of senior year. Jake Peralta was nowhere to be seen, he set up a reputation the previous week where all his teachers began to assume he’d actually try to be on time this year. Amazing how quickly that new year resolution went down the drain. Everyday was a new excuse too, it became a game among the other students to see what Jake’s excuse for being late was going to be. Amy knew that every morning it was just because he hit snooze too many times but still decided to have a leisurely bowl of cereal before leaving home.

“There was a bear on the road, Mr Holt”

“Sorry sir, I had to help a kitten out of a tree”

“I accidentally threw my phone in the toilet when chasing an intruder out of my house” _He had his headphones plugged into his phone, he didn’t even try with that lie._

“I’m sorry I’m late, it was Santiago’s fault somehow”

That last one annoyed her the most. HE annoys her the most. Not just his insufferable personality, but how he can just not study and still get decent grades. She’d be impressed if she wasn’t angry at how much he gets away with.

Luckily, his antics became less intense as the first two months went on. Amy could actually have a proper conversation with him in class and it seemed that sometimes he was actually listening to what the teacher was saying. He was still always late, but at least he showed up at all.

He was becoming less of a distraction to her, but more of a distraction to someone else. All five of them were sitting at a table in the cafeteria.

“Hey Jake, it seems that someone has eyes for you”

Gina gestured her head towards the table full of cheerleaders, they were all giggling and whispering in the head cheerleaders’ ear.

The head cheerleader, Sophia Perez, was loved by students and teachers alike. She was smart, pretty, funny, and active on school committees, there was never a bad word spoken about Sophia because what bad things were there to say. She was a wonderful cheerleader and probably a good friend, but Amy had never even spoken to Sophia before. No offense to Jake, but Amy couldn’t think of one reason why Sophia would like him.

Jake looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with Sophia, she gave him a small wave and shy smile. When he turned back around his cheeks were redder than the “tomato paste” on the cafeteria pizza, but Amy wasn’t going to be the one to point that out. Apparently, Gina was going to though, she never shied away from being blunt and honest.

“You’re pathetic, go talk to her”

“She’s a cheerleader though” He said looking down into his food.

“So? Don’t be a pussy Peralta” Rosa said, facial expression unchanging.

“Fine, when I’m done eating though, I’m hungry”

Jake keeps to his word and once finished his food he tentatively walks over to the cheerleaders table, which is a more daunting task than walking into the principal’s office. Amy tries not to stare too much, she’s unsure why she cares so much in the first place anyway. Sophia gets up and they walk away from the table together, clearly wanting some peace and quiet away from the other giggly cheerleaders.

They talk for the rest of lunch, Sophia laughs at every other thing Jake says and constantly puts her hand on his arm. In the last classes of the day Amy can tell Jake is off in another world, more than usual, so she takes a leap and asks him.

“So, what did you and Sophia talk about at lunch?” She tried to ask casually and kept looking down at her neatly written notes.

“Nothing and some other stuff, I guess” Jake had his chin resting in his hand and was smiling like a fool, did Sophia slip him a love potion or something.

“Right, okay”

Amy thought it was best to not press any further, she realised that she didn’t actually want to know any more about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My goodness Jake got a girlfriend quick, he's just THAT dreamy


	3. The Titanic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Titanic and its cleanup

Jake and Sophia had been together for two months, they’d eat lunch together and Sophia would giggle while Jake kept his arm around her shoulders. Amy would catch them making out in the hallways between classes and a weird feeling of anger would rise up in her chest. She couldn’t help but feel that Sophia was bad news and Jake was going to end up being hurt.

But why did Amy care so much? Amy wasn’t sure of that; she didn’t know why she cared so much about Jake’s feelings. She hadn’t felt much when the unspoken Jenny Gildenhorn incident happened and that was very cruel, so why did Amy worry for Jake now.

Amy and Jake had just finished a tough Wednesday English class with Mr Holt and were looking forward to lunch. Amy met up with Gina, Rosa and Charles to sit at their usual table, Charles’ lunch smelling especially bad today. Jake made a beeline for his seat next to Sophia, but she didn’t look as bubbly and giggly as usual, Amy noticed and was watching like a hawk. Watching and not even being subtle about it today.

Jake sat down next to her with eyebrows knitted together – _he was concerned_. He put his hand over Sophia’s. She slowly pulled her hand out from under his and said something him. Jake’s face dropped – _it wasn’t good news._ It seems everyone at the cheerleaders table was quiet too, and Amy took a quick look at her friends to see that they’d halted their conversation to watch from afar.

At this point they could all guess what was happening, and it was like watching a train wreck – they wanted to look away and give them privacy but just couldn’t. Even Rosa looked mildly sympathetic.

“Oh shit, this aint good” Gina said quietly, even she was shocked and showing a level of emotion.

“This is a train wreck” Rosa said less quiet, as if reading Amy’s thoughts.

Everything was happening in slow motion, Sophia was talking – _explaining_ – to Jake, and he was sitting there with a very blank face – _processing_ – nodding along and pretending like he was listening.

Then Sophia said something that made Jake stop dumbly nodding, he raised his eyebrows in shock.

“Uh oh” Charles gasped.

Everyone knew how to read Jake by this point, the four of them didn’t need to theorize between each other on what he was feeling.

“What did she do to him” Amy asked no one in particular.

Then the big train explosion happened. Jake stood up, slammed his tray of food on the table, making some of the cheerleaders jump.

“WHAT!” He yelled loud enough for the whole school to hear.

Ending the spectacle by storming out of the cafeteria without a word to anyone. Amy, Gina, Charles and Rosa all looked at each other worried because that situation clearly did not go as expected for either party involved. It wasn’t until they saw one of the football boys go over to Sophia and essentially replace Jake’s spot next to her that one of the them said something.

“This isn’t a train wreck, it’s the Titanic” Rosa said to break the silence.

“Shit, that is not okay” Gina wasn’t looking at her phone for once, this situation was serious.

“We’re not gonna see him for the rest of the day are we?” Charles piped up.

“We’ll be lucky if we see him for the rest of the week” Rosa said before taking a bite of her sandwich.

The four of them didn’t say much for the rest of lunch, Amy was in for a very quiet math class that afternoon without Jake.

Rosa was right when she said they wouldn’t see him for the rest of the week, Gina had called him once on Thursday to check up on him but that was the only contact any of them had with him.

“I called last night and all he said was ‘I’m okay, I’m used to people leaving’ and hung up on me. So basically, he’s not okay”

“Who’s gonna volunteer to go and make him eat something tonight?” Rosa asked but as Charles was opening his mouth she continued “Except for Charles, we want him getting out of bed, not dying in it from some weird stew”

“I’ll go, I live close by to him” Amy volunteered, she was genuinely concerned about Jake and surprised at Rosa’s thoughtfulness.

“He’ll get over it soon, he’s just gotta let out all of his sad” Gina said while making arm gestures that would more describe a vomiting motion but she had known Jake the longest out of all them, so her word was the most reliable.

Amy showed up at Jake’s door that night with a plate of lasagne and knocked on the door. Jake’s mum answered, Amy had met her before, Karen was always very nice and welcoming – with a kind smile that was almost identical to Jake’s.

“Oh hi Amy, you here to see Jake?”

“Um yes if that’s alright, a few of us were gonna try and help him through”

“Good luck, I made his favourite tonight and he didn’t even leave his room”

“I’ll see what I can do” Amy said confidently as she walked towards Jake’s room after handing the lasagne to Karen.

“Oh, you may want to block your nose as you go in!” Jake’s mum yelled out to Amy.

Amy knew what to expect from Jake’s room, if his locker and backpack was any indication to the condition he kept his bedroom in. She knocked lightly on the door and heard a loud groan come from inside. The door opened slowly.

“Mom I’m not hungry oka-oh, Amy” Jake’s eyes widened when he noticed it wasn’t his mom bothering him.

Jake had clearly been doing nothing but lying in bed and sleeping judging by his clothes and the state of his hair, Amy didn’t know that hair could defy gravity in such a way.

“What’s up?” He asked her while opening his door enough for her to enter.

Jake’s bedroom was making Amy anxious, no organisation, clothes all over the floor, his duvet was definitely the wrong way somehow and his lamps mismatched.

“Um I was just coming to see if you’re alright”

He offered Amy his desk chair while he just jumped on his bed and laid with his face down in the pillow.

“I’m fine” his voice muffled by the pillow.

“Clearly, I brought some food if you’re hungry”

“I’m not hungry”

What a liar – Jake was a teenage boy, he was always hungry. The first time Jake came over to Amy’s house was for her birthday in middle school, her mum had made all the food that was at the party and Jake ate most of it (and made himself sick of course). But he said it was the best food he’d ever had, since that day he never refuses any of Amy’s moms cooking.

“That’s a shame, my mom made a lasagne” A smirk spreads across Amy’s face, as Jake lifts his head up to look at her.

“Really?”

“You’ll find out if you go and have some”

“Fiiiiiiine, you’re the worst Santiago”

He got up and started dragging his feet down the hallway towards the kitchen with Amy following behind, satisfied at her efforts.

“I know, and you love it”

He ate about half the lasagne, and it wasn’t a small lasagne. Despite having seven brothers Amy still sat there in shock watching him devour the food with no awareness for the amount of mess he was making.

“Thanks Amy” Jake said quietly when his mom had gone to her room for the night.

“That’s alright, we just don’t like seeing you upset. Well, we haven’t actually seen you the last few days” She matched his volume and tried her best to sound like a caring friend.

“I know, I’m sorry”

“You’re not the one who should be sorry. I-we just hope you’ll be back on Monday. Don’t tell Rosa I told you, but we do actually miss you” She let out a small laugh and Jake followed with his own.

Amy’s only goal when she came over tonight was to get Jake to eat something, and not only has she done that but she’s gotten him out of bed, he put on a proper pair of pants – and best of all, she made him smile again.

“It wasn’t just that she broke up with me, she’d already found someone else, some stupid football dick”

His smile had faded but he didn’t look like he was going to cry, perhaps he was all out of tears after what Amy assumed was two solid days of crying.

“I’m sorry Jake, you didn’t deserve that. You’re great and she should’ve considered herself lucky to be with you”

Amy isn’t sure where that came from and now hopes that it wasn’t too much.

“Thanks. You should be getting home, its way past your bedtime” He said with a small smile.

“Jake, its like 8:30”

“Old ladies go to bed at like 7”

She rolled her eyes and punched him lightly in the shoulder.

“You’re the worst” She got up from the dining table and started walking towards the door.

“Wrong, you just said I’m great and I’m never going to forget that” He was giggling as he was closing the door to the apartment.

“I’m gonna hit you so hard!” Amy threatened as he closed the door on her.

She walked home with a smile on her face, hoping her goal of making Jake feel better had worked. He was a big boy now and didn’t need to have his hand held through every tough situation, but Jake had never been great with emotions and relationships. Even the way he told them all that he and Sophia were together was very Jake – “Sophia and I are together, romantic stylez”.

Amy knew how sweet he was, he would’ve treated Sophia like she was the only girl that existed, and she just threw that out as if it were a used tissue. Amy now had a distain for a girl she’d never talked to before, she supposes that’s what happens when someone hurts your friends’ feelings.

Jake was too sweet to have to go through a breakup as awful as that one.


	4. Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shenanigans??????????

_*ding*  
Saturday, 6:32pm_

**Jake:** r u home

 **Amy:** Yes, why?

 **Jake:** can i come over

 **Amy:** My dad and majority of my brothers are home; I’m going to safely say it’s a no.

 **Jake:** u got a fire escape dont u

 **Amy:** Don’t you dare, Peralta

It was too late because not even thirty seconds later she heard tapping on her window. She walks over and opens her curtains to see Jake smiling at her casually, as if he didn’t just climb three floors up her building’s fire escape. Amy rolls her eyes and pushes up the window shade.

“You text me asking to come over when you were already here anyway?”

“Yeah of course, at least I text and didn’t just climb up here and knock on your window like a creep” Jake said while climbing in the window into her room.

Amy gestured to the armchair in the corner of her room that she usually reserves for her reading time. She tried to not wince too explicitly at his worn and dirty sneakers on her nice clean carpet. He still seemed to notice and silently took his shoes off and threw them out the window to sit on the fire escape platform.

“So why did you wanna come over here?” Amy asked from her desk chair, unfortunately turned away from her colour coordinated notes.

“That is a good question Santiago, and the answer is that your house is the closest to mine – and because Charles is busy” Jake leaned back and got comfy in the chair.

“You still didn’t actually answer my question”

She crossed her arms and Jake was silent for a few moments and his smile faded. The last time Jake stopped smiling was when Sophia broke up with him two weeks ago, after Amy went over to his he perked up and answered Charles and Gina’s texts on the weekend, and by that Monday he was his usual self again.

“I don’t wanna be home at the moment” He trailed off.

“Is your mom alright?”

Amy should kick herself for asking more, for pressuring him further, Jake isn’t good at talking about his feelings and she knows that. But she’s also concerned for him, he’d just gotten through the breakup and now there was something else that had knocked down what seemed to be his impenetrable wall of positivity.

“She’s fine, its my dad that’s the problem”

“Oh..”

“Yeah, he thought it’d be nice to come back for Christmas”

“Oohh…”

“Talk about worst present ever..” He stopped making eye contact with Amy and looked out the window instead.

“I’m sorry Jake” Amy didn’t know what else to say, she wasn’t well versed in how to deal with this situation.

There aren’t many books written that are about a friend whose parent leaves, and then the friend despises that parent, and then that parent returns and the friend has to live with the parent they despise because the parent they love still loves the bad parent. _Oh no._

The two of them sit in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say. That is until Jake shakes his head and sits up again, becoming a bit cheerier. He shakes his leg, clearly in thought, and Amy gets worried. Jake thinking is worrying.

“I know what we should do!”

“What should we do?” Amy raises an eyebrow.

“Come here and hold your hands out like this” He put both hands flat in front of him, palms facing to the floor and Amy copied “Ready?”

“No”

“Good, I’ll go first because you suck”

He then proceeds to slap his hands down on top of Amy’s and return them, so their hands are mirroring one another, their fingertips touching. Amy recoils back but keeps her hands in place.

“What the hell Peralta!”

She wants to yell but doesn’t want her family to hear she’s got someone in her room so its more of a whispered lashing.

“That’s the game, be quicker next time _Santiagooo_ ”

Amy started muttering and concentrating hard on watching Jake’s hands, sitting there barely touching hers and staying completely still for once. He moves quickly and ends up hitting her hands again, they begin to go red. Jake giggles.

“Shit! This is the worst game ever”

“Only cuz you’re bad at it”

“You didn’t even explain the rules”

“The only rule is don’t get hit, you’re such a nerd”

He rolled his eyes but also had an intense concentration on Amy’s hands. Amy understood the game very quickly, she knew what she had to do and she was determined to win this stupid game. Damn her competitive nature.

Both of them are quiet, deep in concentration – Jake deciding when to make his next move, and Amy predicting when Jake will move. Then it happens, for Amy in slow motion. Jake gets a glint in his eye, thinking Amy has lowered her guards but she hasn’t (she never did) so he goes in for the kill. But she is one step ahead, and by the time Jake’s hands go down to meet Amy’s, her hands were out of the way and by her side so Jake had hit thin air.

“Yes! My turn now loser” Amy said while beaming.

“Fiiine” Jake looked defeated but he was never one to back down and they both put their hands in the starting position.

Amy got in two hits, she realised Jake made the mistake of leaving too big of a gap between attempts, so she went rapid fire. His hands were turning red now too, maybe Amy hit a bit hard.

“Lets make this more interesting?” Amy said raising an eyebrow.

“How?” He raised an eyebrow too.

“A bet” The look on Jake’s face could tell he was immediately on board “If you tap out first you’ve gotta drive me to school for a week”

“Deal, if you tap out first you have to buy me lunch for a week because I’m-“

“Broke, yes I know”

“So we have a deal?” Jake said, pausing the game to shake Amy’s hand.

“Deal. You’re on Peralta”

Luckily her brothers were fond of loud music and her parents of turning the TV up too loud, otherwise the noises coming from Amy’s room that night would have been quite suggestive.

_9:04pm_

“That’s it, I’m out, my hands are going all staticy” Jake said pulling his hands towards his chest and rubbing them together.

“Yes! Suck it peralta!”

Amy won the bet but the tops of her hands were numb and as red as a tomato, so as she nursed her hands back to health she realised that there were no winners in this game of Slaps.

“I can’t wait to not have to take the bus for a week”

“I think I’ll have to get my hands amputated, you hit hard” Jake said with a fake pout.

“I’m not hard” Amy said in hopes of a sweet burn but instead she just gets-

“Title of your sex tape! Yes! This whole game was worth it now”

Jake fist pumped while Amy just groaned and rolled her eyes. She looked out of her window for the first time and noticed how dark it was outside, Jake seems to have done the same as he quiets down again.

“I should probably go home now, don’t want my mom to worry”

“Are you sure you’re alright to go back” _shut up Amy, you moron._

“Yeah I’ll be fine”

Amy should have let him go and feel sympathy for him, said that it was going to be alright and that he could text her if he needed. But no, believe it or not Amy has the worst foot in mouth disease – she thought it was only around Mr Holt, their English teacher, but it turns out she says stupid stuff in front of Jake now too.

“If you want you can stay”

Jake looked up; his eyebrows were raised in shock.

“Are you sure, I know that its past your bedtime already” He smirked and Amy – as per usual – rolled her eyes.

“It’s Saturday night, I stay up as late as I want on a Saturday – within reason of course” _That didn’t sound badass at all_.

“Alright, I’ll take up your offer and make you regret it”

“Fantastic” She said sarcastically.

Amy made moves to set up a spare mattress on her floor. Jake had to hide behind her bed when she had to leave her room to get blankets.

“What are you doing?”

She stopped dead in her tracks with an armful of blankets and a pillow. All her brothers had moved out of home except for two of them, Louis and Tony. Louis was the youngest, at two years younger than Amy. He was quiet and kept to himself, he didn’t care about anyone’s business except for his WoW games and occasional detective book their father recommended.

Tony was a year older than Amy and the loose cannon; Amy wasn’t entirely sure what he did. He might work part time somewhere, he might be going to college, he might not be doing anything. All she knows is that she is all too familiar with the sound of his window opening and him climbing down the fire escape. She also knows how many Oscars she deserves for lying to her parents on behalf of Tony.

“Uh nothing, I got cold, why?”

Tony raised an eyebrow, clearly knowing how to spot shenanigans from his extensive experience.

“Sure you are. Kinda sounded like you were talking to someone in your room” Now he crossed his arms and was wearing a smirk.

“Um I was on the phone, to a friend, talking to them, on the phone”

“ _Suuuure_. Well I’m not going anywhere tonight so if you need me to cover for you then shoot me a text”

Tony walked back into his room nonchalantly and shut the door. Amy quickly finished getting the linen and sneaking back into her room with it. She closed the door quickly and quietly, hoping her parents hadn’t seen or heard anything of her and Tony’s conversation in the hallway.

“You are an awful liar” Jake said while crawling out from underneath the bed.

“Its only because Tony does bad stuff all the time, he knows exactly what trouble looks like”

“I feel like Tony and I would get along, maybe I should go say hi”

Jake was teasing her and wouldn’t actually do it, but Amy’s anxiety started to spike.

“You _cannot_ do that at all. Sneaking out is one thing but having a boy stay over in my room is whole new territory that hasn’t even been touched on yet. If my parents found out they’d absolutely kill me and I’d probably get kicked out of the house and-“

“Amy, calm down, I’m not really gonna go out there”

Jake had walked around the bed and put his hands on Amy’s arms to keep her upright and steady, surprisingly enough it was helping her.

“Think about it this way, they’re less likely to find out that I’m staying over because you’re a goody two shoes and don’t need to keep a close eye on you”

“I guess you’re right”

“Of course I am, I’m always right”

Amy made up Jakes mattress on the floor and gave him the biggest t-shirt she could find for him to wear, then went into her bathroom to put her pyjama t-shirt and shorts on. They both climbed into their beds and Amy turned the lights out.

“Hey Amy, you’re a smarty pants right?” Jake said, getting rid of the silence that filled the room.

“Uh I guess”

“If you’re so smart, then would you know” He trailed off.

“Would I know what?” She was frustrated, Amy was beginning to become more and more sleepy as her head lay on the pillow.

“How many chickens would it take to kill an elephant?”

Amy started giggling, maybe it was the exhaustion or maybe she was just expecting anything except for that to come out of his mouth. But this was Jake and she should’ve been ready for anything. He started giggling too, both being cautious of how loud they were.

“I don’t even know where to begin to unpack that question, Jake”

They giggled and discussed the semantics of how many chickens it would take to kill an elephant for a good while. That discussion just turned into talking about whatever they felt like in the dark, almost as if the lack of light brought down a barrier between them. Amy lost track of time, but she knew that after a while her cheeks started to hurt from smiling so much.


	5. Friends and Fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after and bets are made

“Morning sleepyhead” Jake piped up from the reading chair in the corner of Amy’s room.

“How long have you been watching me sleep, creep” Amy sat up and rubbed her eyes.

“Not long. Wanna get breakfast? I’ll pay”

“Sure, I can’t go down and have a normal breakfast with my parents anyway”

“Why not-oh right, yep, makes sense”

Jake sits on his phone while Amy gets ready in the bathroom. She puts on her winter layers and ties her hair up in a ponytail. They discuss how Jake will climb out and down the fire escape and Amy will leave through the front door and they can meet outside – surprisingly enough it all goes smoothly, and her parents barely question it. Not that Amy would ever admit it, but Jake _was_ right.

They walked in the cold to a diner and sat down in the booth opposite each other. Jake ordering a ridiculous amount of food and Amy a more balanced breakfast. The way he ate made Amy cringe, so much mess and she sympathised with whoever had to clean up after them.

“So what else could we do today?” Jake said after burping very loudly.

“Sorry but I’ve got studying to do, you probably have too” She shrugged her shoulders.

“Yeah, cool cool cool, no doubt no doubt no doubt…”

He looked genuinely upset, Amy knew he was just trying to stay out of his house for as long as he possibly could. She couldn’t imagine what he’d be feeling, and it made her heart ache.

“But maybe next Sunday we can do something fun, yeah?”

“Sure, we’ll plan it down to the minute so you can still have time to be boring”

He perked up, she could tell he was feeling better because he was teasing her, that was always the clear way to determine how upset Jake was.

They left the diner and walked back to their houses together, talking about what classes they had tomorrow. They reached Amy’s apartment first, so they said their goodbyes and she squeezed Jake’s shoulder in reassurance before parting ways. She looked through the crack in the door back at Jake before fully closing it to see him still looking at her, a small smile on his face.

Amy did her best not to think about his goofy smile.

They went out the Sunday after to the same diner for lunch, they sat and talked about anything for a few hours. Amy didn’t find herself cringing as much while Jake ate, he was also making her laugh and so she was able to look past the mess a lot easier than the week before.

It became a weekly tradition which they never spoke of to any of their other friends. They’d go out for a Sunday lunch together, chat about whatever was on their minds for a few hours and walk back to their apartments together. Charles would call it a date – Amy definitely wouldn’t, but they were becoming one of her favourite parts of the week.

Sometimes they would just meet outside Amy’s door, other times Jake would climb up the fire escape and wait for her to get ready – depending on what time he woke up in the morning. Amy enjoyed doing something purely for fun, it was one of the only things she did during the week on her planner that wasn’t in some way educational and/or relating to organisation.

“Uh Amy”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not gonna be able to come out for lunch next week, or maybe any of the weeks afterwards”

“Oh, okay… why?”

Amy was surprised and mildly disappointed, Jake seemed upset that he couldn’t come to lunch anymore, and she was already attempting to deduce the reasons why.

“I have my cousins baht mitzvah next weekend, and after that my mom doesn’t want me sneaking off anymore” He said the second part quietly, almost hoping Amy couldn’t hear.

“Jake, you’ve been sneaking off! You must be worrying your mom sick!”

“I know, I’m sorry, I’m gonna stop now. Its just hard with _Roger_ being at home, ya know”

He shrugged his shoulders and looked into his lap. Amy softened her expression and realised he must’ve already gotten in trouble and didn’t need a second round of whipping from his friend as well.

“Its alright, maybe we can go out for lunch again soon, okay?” She smiled softly at him and he looked back up at her and returned the smile.

“Sounds like a plan”

\--------------------------------

“Now class, we’re going to be painting using acrylics today, and because I’m feeling generous I’m giving you the freedom to paint whatever you want. So go get your paints and brushes and have at it”

Mr Jeffords said with the usual passion he brought to his art classes. Amy enjoyed the history of art but not actually painting or drawing, whereas Jake loved painting and drawing (or more he loved making a mess) and hated all the theory that went along with art.

Being one of the nicest teachers at the school he would put music on during lessons – those made for some of the most fun art classes ever, even Amy had to admit. Mr Jeffords knew how to make class fun but also keep his students in line, almost as perfect of a teacher as Mr Holt.

“Hey Amy” Jake said as he approached their table with as many bottles of paint as his arms could carry “Wanna have a competition?”

“Art is subjective, so art competitions are pointless”

She wanted to focus on making something that didn’t look like utter garbage that Mr Jeffords had to politely tell her the myriad of things she needed to improve on.

“No no no no, lets see who can finish first”

She stopped organising her bottles of paint and brushes and raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

“How would we even be able to tell when someone is finished? You could just paint a line and say you’re done”

“We’ll paint the same thing”

“Like what?”

Jake stood and thought for a moment with eyebrows knitted together, before a big smile crept across his face.

“Chickens attacking an elephant”

Amy gave a small laugh and shook her head, that was a month ago but how could one forget such a unique conversation.

“Alright fine, if I win then you have to buy me lunch for two weeks”

“Deal, if I win you have to… go to prom with me”

Amy thought over her options. Going to prom with Jake wouldn’t be too awful, there weren’t many other guys she’d want to go with anyway. The only other guy being Teddy from chemistry, but he seemed kind of boring and stared at Amy sometimes, not enough to be creepy, but too much to just be a healthy crush. She’d rather not give in to that. So her options were, free lunch for two weeks or a sure-fire date to prom, not too bad in terms of a bet.

“Deal, get ready to eat my dust, Peralta” They shook hands.

“Try not to fall in love with me at prom, I’m irresistible in a suit” Amy rolled her eyes and coiled back.

“That won’t be a problem”

They both set up their workstations, Jake set up a timer on his phone and they both count down from three. Amy had a plan of how she was going to pull this painting off as quick as she possibly could and put it into action as soon as they both yelled ‘one!’ and the timer started.

They also made a list of terms otherwise there WOULD be arguments:

_There must be at least four chickens  
The elephant must take up at least a third of the canvas  
There needs to be some kind of background  
Must have outlines AND colour  
  
_

Twenty minutes into painting and Amy deeply regrets this bet. None of her plan is turning out the way she expected, and everything is going wrong. The colours aren’t what she wants, her hand just isn’t making any of the lines right and everything is disproportionate. The definition of a disaster.

She peeks over at Jakes painting which is unfortunately going well and starts to get even more frustrated. He looks like he’s having the time of his life whilst Amy would rather be anywhere but this classroom.

20 minutes later-

“Done!”

Jake threw his hands up in the air in celebration. Amy’s face and dignity fell, she hated losing to Jake, he was such a sore winner. But even she had to give the boy credit, his background was blended beautifully and managed to include six chickens in the time it took Amy to paint a background and two sad looking chickens. She groaned and dropped her brush on top of her painting, not caring about what it looked like anymore.

“Congratulations” She said through gritted teeth.

“I’m gonna wear the worst suit I can possibly find”

Jake threw his paintbrush into the tray of paint and paint splashed everywhere. Some of it getting on Amy’s arms and her shirt. Jake froze, he’d made a big mistake and he didn’t know how he was going to recover – Amy was going to kill him, straight up murder him in the art room.

She looked down at her arms and back up to Jake slowly, facial expression unreadable. Until a small smile broke out, it was going to be even worse than Jake thought.

“Amy I’m so sorry I didn’t-“

Whilst he was attempting to apologise Amy had picked up the brush she previously dropped, dipped it in some purple paint and flicked it at Jake. Paint splattering on his face and down the front of his shirt. Like a mature adult – Jake joined in immediately, doing the same and splattering Amy with red paint.

“It looks like I’ve murdered someone!” Amy said over giggles.

“Well it looks like Barney the Dinosaur did something inappropriate to me!” Jake was also giggling.

They kept going back and forth, splattering each other with paint. Their faces were becoming covered, and their shirts looking no better. Amy’s hair had splatterings of pink and green and yellow throughout and Jake’s was full of purple. It was the most fun Amy had ever had in art class, she couldn’t stop laughing and smiling until-

“What are you two doing?!” Mr Jeffords asked, standing behind Amy.

They both stopped still, Jakes eyes went wide and Amy’s anxiety started to peak. Jake was the one to break the silence.

“Nothing?” Even Jake wasn’t confident in his answer.

“Go clean yourselves up, clean up the table and as punishment you can pack up everyone else’s art supplies at the end of class. Now go”

Amy washed her hands and used paper towel to clean her face to the best of her ability. Her hair and shirt were going to have to wait until she got home. When her and Jake returned to the classroom, they had to clean everyone’s brushes and paint trays in the sink, which cut into their lunch time. By the time they’d gotten their food Rosa, Charles and Gina were already at their table.

“Where have you two been?” Charles asked suggestively.

“And why you covered in paint?” Gina followed up.

“Funny story that one” Jake answered “Amy and I were painting and we had this bet- OH MY GOD!”

Everyone at the table jumped a little bit.

“I almost forgot about the bet! Amy lost the bet!”

Amy groaned and put her head in her hands. Charles and Gina raised an eyebrow, Rosa couldn’t seem to care less.

“Don’t remind me again please-“

“You have to go to prom with me!” Jake pointed at Amy, and this time even Rosa seemed intrigued.

“Oh that’s great! You’re perfect for each other its about time you got-“ Charles squeaked out, more excited about this bet than Jake.

“We’re going as friends Charles, it was a bet, that’s all” Amy piped up.

She pushed down the part of her that felt disappointed that they were only going as friends. She’d rather not think about what those feelings meant. Their lunch conversation returned to normal and the bet wasn’t spoken of again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're reading the day this was uploaded I'll be uploading the second half of the fic tomorrow. Thanks for reading!


	6. Worst/Best Party Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> House party at Gina's!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a really short chapter but I sorta didn't know how it would fit into the previous chapter or the next chapter so it gets its own yay!

Amy would rather be anywhere else than Gina’s house right now. Gina was throwing a party and insisted that Amy come along to “not be boring for once”. It wasn’t that Amy was boring, she just preferred to study or watch Netflix rather than watch a bunch of her classmates get drunk and make awful decisions. She was uncomfortable and brooding on the couch in the corner of the room, watching guys flirt with girls and get rejected rather quickly.

“No offense, you look miserable”

Amy was staring at her drink but looked up upon hearing a familiar voice.

“I’m glad the outside matches the inside then”

Jake flopped down on the couch next to her, managing to not spill his drink in the process.

“Don’t like crowds?”

“Not particularly. Gina’s apartment is too small to hold this many people”

“Good point, wanna leave the party without leaving?”

“Uh what do you mean?”

“I know a place, lets go!”

Without giving Amy a chance to answer he got up and grabbed her hand, dragging her out of the apartment and towards the elevator, pressing the button to go up.

“Where are we going, Jake? Finally gonna murder me”

“I would not make it this obvious if I was gonna murder you – a party with witnesses?! Foolish”

“You did not answer my question”

“It’s a surprise” He winked at her and bounced on his toes waiting for the elevator to ding.

They ride it up to the top floor, Jake once again grabs Amy’s hand and drags her along to the fire escape. Amy is baffled that they’re still able to hear the music from the party as a faint background noise. They climb up a flight of stairs and Jake opens the door at the top. He has lead her out to the roof, where two camping chairs sat near the edge.

“You brought me to the roof?”

“Yeah! Isn’t it great?!”

“Uh I guess”

Jake skipped over to the camping chairs and gestured for Amy to follow.

“This isn’t just any roof. Gina doesn’t know that her roof has an amazing view of the city. Sure the window views in the apartments aren’t great, but the building is so tall you can see so much from up here. Like Batman!”

Amy walked towards Jake and the chairs, as she got closer she saw what he meant. It was a pretty good view, especially for an apartment building. The lights on the tops of buildings looking like stars in the sky.

“Wow, that is pretty”

“And even better, I have snacks! And by snacks I mean bags of nuts”

Amy laughed and took a seat on one of the chairs, Jake grabbed a large bag of nuts out of a duffel bag nearby – she didn’t want to know how it got there and how long it had been up here. He sat down next to her and began throwing nuts into the air and catching them with his mouth.

“You can’t eat them like a normal person”

“I can but it isn’t as fun. Here”

He turned to her and threw a nut in Amy’s direction. She made an awful attempt to catch it and missed. They laughed together as Amy kept trying to catch them and failed. Eventually she grabbed a handful out of the bag and threw them in the air, catching a few in her mouth.

“The key is volume!” Amy said with her mouth full.

Jake laughed and copied what she did. She wasn’t sure how long they were on the roof for, eating peanuts, laughing and talking. Eventually Amy was catching 1 in 3 peanuts and was very proud of herself.

Definitely the best party she’s ever been to.


	7. Prom!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its prom and everything goes smoothly - except for in Amy's brain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna know exactly what dress I had in mind, if you google literally the description I gave the style comes up on images so yeah...  
> Yay prom! 
> 
> (FYI I've never been to a prom so all my info is based off teen movies wooo)

Rosa and Amy were driving to prom together, Rosa decided this because she wanted to make sure Amy looked decent and “not like an old lady”. Amy could understand where she was coming from, but it still hurt.

“Wow Santiago, lookin’ hot” Rosa said with little to no emotion in her voice, as usual.

“Oh, thanks Rosa” Her shoulders straightened at the praise.

Amy had her hair curled and pinned to the side, she was wearing a long off the shoulder red dress, with a large slit going up one leg. It wasn’t an outfit she would have gravitated towards, but Gina convinced her it would be perfect and as Amy looked in the mirror, she couldn’t disagree.

She said goodbye to her parents and her and Rosa were off to prom. On the drive over Amy began to feel nervous, nervous to go into prom and see Jake. The part that made her the most nervous is that she didn’t know why she was nervous. Amy was annoyed at herself at being so sure of everything in life except for her emotions, feeling things for reasons she didn’t know why.

They walked in the doors of the school gym where prom was already in full swing, the dancefloor crowded and a sea of people by the snacks table. As her and Rosa looked around, Amy spotted a table to the right of the door that had their friends already on it. Gina was sitting close and flirting with some random guy Amy had never seen before. Charles date – Genevieve – was amused by Jake and Charles’ antics. Jake was eating atrocious combinations of food from the snack table, yet not getting any on his clothes for once.

Amy got butterflies when she saw Jake, she became very aware of how high the slit in her dress was and how much of her décolletage it showed off and suddenly wanted a big jacket. She became hyperaware of what her hands were doing and how much she was sweating. _Stop being stupid Amy_ _its just Jake_.

“Found my guy, gotta go Santiago”

Rosa swiftly moved away from her towards the weird guy that no one really knew anything about, but apparently Rosa knew enough about him to be making out with him furiously. Amy tried to burn that image from her mind and just mentally send a message to Rosa to be safe.

“Hey guys” Amy said walking up to the table with a smile.

Jake had his usual goofy smile on but when he looked at Amy to say hello she could’ve sworn she saw his jaw drop for a moment before returning to its usual position. But his eyes said it all, they were wide in awe and now Amy felt amazing and very self-conscious.

“Hi Amy! Where’s Rosa?” Charles asked her.

“She’s with that Adrian guy I think” Amy pointed over her shoulder. Jake hadn’t moved or taken his eyes off Amy since she showed up, but he shook his head a little and spoke up finally.

“You look beautiful Amy”

Thank god for makeup because the blush went down to her neck.

“Thanks. So what have you been doing?”

“Waiting for you to get here, silly! I’ve been wanting to dance but had no one to dance with”

Jake jumps up, and Amy has to admit – Jake looks good in his suit. (he didn’t pick something hideous like promised, his tie even matched Amy’s dress).

“Oh but I can’t dance” She put her hands up in defence, he leaned in closer to her.

“Its better than third wheeling with Charles and Genevieve, lets please go”

Before she could protest again he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the dance floor. Out of everything happened all Amy could register was how warm his hand was in hers. Instead of fighting it, she harnessed all the confidence her dress gave her and danced.

They danced to trashy modern pop that Amy hated and to some classic 80s rock and pop to mix it up. Every so often Jake would grab her hand and they’d dance together, the feeling of his hand would ghost her long after he let go. She’d never forget the look of pure joy on his face, or how he laughed whenever Amy would trip over her two left feet.

It was the most fun she’d ever had.

They had just finished singing and dancing along to Love Shack ( _an incredibly inappropriate song for teenagers_ , Amy thought) when some slow Taylor Swift had started playing. Amy knew it was Taylor Swift because of how excited Jake got. All the couples around them had come together to slow dance with each other, sharing tender moments and believing this was all that mattered in the world.

“So uh…” Jake rubbed the back of his neck, Amy was unsure what he wanted but she knew what she wanted.

“Wanna dance?” She took a step closer to Jake.

“Sure”

They stepped closer to each other and Amy put her hands on Jakes shoulders. He put his hands around her waist and as they swayed together, Amy doing her best not to step on his feet. Jake was humming along to the words and whenever he’d look Amy in the eyes he’d smile, a genuine smile and not one of his silly goofy ones.

His hands on her waist burned through her dress and onto her skin, if holding his hand made her heart stop then she is surprised she’s made it so long into the song still alive. As he smiled down at her and as Taylor Swift said the night was sparkling it hit Amy like a tonne of bricks.

_She liked Jake – like, a lot._

She had a crush on Jake. The same Jake that bothered her all summer for ice cream, the same Jake that teased her about her binders, the same Jake that ruined one of her shirts with paint, the Jake that climbed up her fire escape and ruined her study time. The same Jake who paid for breakfast the morning after staying, the same Jake who made her laugh like no one else could, the same Jake who didn’t tease her for her bad painting, the same Jake who had told her things he didn’t tell anyone else.

But surprisingly Amy felt happy, she felt content. She thought it would be scary and nerve wracking, she has to spend so much time around Jake, but she’s happy and not nervous at all. Because for once, she knows her feelings and emotions. It fills her with a certainty she’s never experienced before.

“What are you smiling at weirdo?” Jake asked, snapping Amy out of her epiphany.

“Uh nothing, just having fun I guess” She smiled up at him.

“Okay then” He smiled back, and they continued dancing until the song finished.

They both walked back towards the table with their friends, Rosa and Adrian had joined them. They talked and laughed until the lights in the gym came up signalling time to go home, Amy had expected to go home much earlier but lost track of time.

The group of them walked outside, Charles and Gina and their dates all going off together. Rosa and Adrian went to Rosa’s car and looked like they weren’t going to leave it for a while. So, it was Jake and Amy left to make their own way home, luckily Jake had driven himself there.

“Would you mind giving me a ride home, Rosa seems…. Busy” Amy said shuddering looking at Rosa pinning Adrian up against her car.

“Sure, ain’t no thang” Jake twirled his keys on his fingers.

The ride home was quiet, but not uncomfortable silence. Jake had Taylor Swift playing quietly and was humming along as usual, while Amy stared out the window at the passing buildings. She was trying not to stare at Jake, a habit she’d need to develop to not become as creepy as Teddy did with her.

_He’s just so dreamy in his suit._

He stopped outside her apartment building, but Amy didn’t get out immediately, instead sitting in the passenger seat hoping Jake would say something.

“I had fun tonight, thanks for dancing with me” He said, if it wasn’t dark she could’ve sworn he was blushing.

“Oh that’s fine, I had fun too”

“You looked beautiful tonight, by the way”

“Thanks, you looked nice too” Amy was blushing very hard and had to leave the car before things did become awkward “I’ll uh see you on Monday”

“Yep, see you on Monday”

She got out of the car and before she walked into her apartment building, she glanced back to see Jake smile at her and she gave him a little wave. He only drove away once she was inside the building. That night Amy got little sleep trying to fight away thoughts of Jake holding her closer and trying to shake off the feeling of his hands on her waist.


	8. Sweet and Sleepy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy is tired, Jake is sweet (as always)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is also kinda a short chapter but same deal as the house party - I wasn't sure this section would fit with others so it gets it own chapter

_*ding*  
7:43pm Saturday_

**Jake:** u up?

 **Amy:** Yes, why?

 **Jake:** can i come over

 **Amy:** Sure

 **Jake:** be there in 5

Amy packed up her binders and pencil case, if Jake was coming over she wasn’t going to be doing much studying. She was an idiot for saying yes, its hard enough for her to not stare at him at school and he was beginning to plague her thoughts even when he wasn’t around. Let alone him being in her room, with all of his stupid face and stupid laugh and stupid smile.

Sure enough, five minutes later she heard a quiet tapping on her window. She opened her curtains to see Jake with a big smile on his face, she pushed up the window to let him in. He discarded his shoes as he climbed in, Amy appreciated it deeply as she wasn’t in the mood to vacuum her room today.

“Hey, I brought you something” Jake said swinging his backpack off of his back.

“Oh, okay, what is it?” Amy raised her eyebrows, Jake hadn’t brought her a gift before.

He opened his bag and rifled through it, hearing all the loose paper and trash in there made her cringe. He pulled out a packet of neon coloured markers, and Amy recognised them as being the really good expensive brand. Her eyes went wide and her heart began to flutter, he remembered.

“Oh my god, how did you-?” She grabbed the packet with both hands and held it close to her.

“Well I remembered you complaining about how Teddy asked to borrow one and he kept it and you seemed upset, so I got you a new pack. So you can continue to be freakishly organised”

“Thank you so much!”

She hugged Jake tightly, he hesitated for a second before reciprocating. Amy’s heart was fluttering and she was worried she’d stop breathing. This was the closest her and Jake had ever gotten – except prom of course but that was surrounded by the school while slow dancing. It was just the two of them in her room, after he’d done something incredibly selfless.

They broke apart – which upset Amy a little bit, he could stay in his arms forever – and she put the new markers on her desk. Amy sat on her bed while Jake took his spot on her reading chair, they sat quietly for a few minutes, in a comfortable silence. She did her best to not stare at him or think about what they could be doing on her bed.

“We should watch a movie” Jake piped up finally.

“But I don’t really wanna watch Die Hard”

“How did you know I was gonna say Die Hard?” He took mock offense and raised a hand to his heart, Amy rolled her eyes.

“Because that’s all you watch” She laughed, and he laughed with her.

“Because its only the best cop movie of all time!” They both laughed.

“Ssshh my family still lives here, Tony will get suspicious. How about I pick the movie?”

“Alright fine, has to be a cop movie though” Amy rolled her eyes and thought for a moment.

“Training Day, _that_ is the best cop movie and its my pick”

She gets up and quietly makes her way to the living room to find the Training Day DVD.

“Amelia, what are you doing?” Her mother asked from the kitchen.

“Nothing ma, just wanna watch a movie and then go to sleep” She yelled back.

“Okay, love you darling!”

“Love you too!”

Once the door is closed Jake climbs out from under her bed and takes a seat on top of it. Amy picks her laptop up off her desk and situates herself on her bed next to Jake, with the laptop on the bed in between them. Halfway into the movie Amy’s eyes begin to get heavy – its still early but its been a big week of many quizzes and other types of assignments, and as much as she loves those things, too many at once can be overwhelming.

She leans her head on Jake’s shoulder telling herself she won’t fall asleep; Jake silently shifts to put an arm around her so that she’s more comfortable. Amy blinks and doesn’t open her eyes again.

\------------------------

When she wakes up in the morning she is still in her clothes but lying down and underneath her blanket, laptop and Jake absent from her bed. She slowly sits up and begins to register how uncomfortable sleeping in jeans is. Rubbing her eyes and looking around her room she sees a piece of paper sitting neatly on top of her laptop on her desk, she walks over and sits in her desk chair reading it.

_Santiagoooo  
You fell asleep lol, I finished the movie tho because its really good.  
Would’ve put you in pjs but you were asleep and that’s weird so I didn’t but I’m sorry you slept in jeans.  
See ya at school._

_-Jake “the coolest friend in the world” Peralta_

Amy wasn’t going to tell anyone that she folded the note up and tucked it into her drawer, as if she’d throw out something like that. Although her eye twitched because he left her pen sitting out on the desk, the note made her heart happy enough to look past the lone pen.


	9. Planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skip day plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops curse me and my short chapters - the next one is longer I promise

She aced the Monday Maths Quiz that Mrs Daniels insisted on setting and was on a high that kept her going through the day. At lunch her and Jake were the first ones at the table, Charles was convincing one of the teachers to heat his lunch up in the teachers lounge microwave and not succeeding at all. He walked over to the table in defeat and ate his weird lunch cold. Gina and Rosa joined a short time later.

“How was your weekend Santiago?” Rosa said as she sat down. She didn’t seem to actually care but it was nice that she asked nonetheless.

“Alright, took break from studying after hell week”

“You did NOT, you were forced to take a break” Jake interjected, with a mouthful of food.

“Okay fine, I was FORCED to take a break, but I’m grateful for it”

“How do you know that Jakey?” Charles had a twinkle in his eye and a smirk.

“Oh uh because Amy and I watched a movie, I forced her to take a break for once. Although she fell asleep at like 8:30” He snorted.

“Ugh way to call me out like that, I was tired okay” Amy tried to defend herself.

“I’m not making fun of you, it was cute” He made an effort to pinch her cheek but Amy moved away at the last second.

Amy rolled her eyes, as she did so, she could’ve sworn that out of the corner of her eye she saw Rosa and Gina give each other a look. The lunch conversation turned back to normal after that, but Amy kept thinking about how Jake had called her cute. Once again, Jake plagued her thoughts whether she was with him or not.

English with Holt was Amy’s favourite class, she looked forward to it and couldn’t wait for Holt to give her feedback on where she can improve. Every so often he’d lean back in his chair and nod slightly and Amy would be on cloud 9 for a week.

English was the one class Jake seemed to focus the most, Holt had been harsh on him but also believed in him – and it worked. Amy was proud of Jake for the improvements made to his English grades. But today he seemed a bit unfocused, she guessed he was more distracted by his own thoughts than any other stimuli.

“Are you alright Jake?” She said quietly.

“Wanna go to skip day with me?” He blurted out, seeming surprised he had said it.

“Uh I’m already getting a lift with you, we organised this earlier” She was incredibly confused.

“No like uh um, like my date sorta thing, ya know?” He was wringing his hands together.

“You don’t really need a date to skip day like you do for prom but sure”

They smiled at each other, Jake seemed relieved and stopped wringing his hands together. He was more focused for the rest of the class after that.

Amy had gotten the idea in her head that Jake didn’t like her back, Sofia ruined him and she was amazing in every way so he’d never like Amy. They were friends and nothing more, Amy had tried to move on from Jake, she had to. To no avail, of course.

Was he asking her on a date? Was it just so that he’d have someone to hang out with? You don’t need a date to skip day? It was a carnival, they’d just walk around with friends the whole time. It was probably best to not dwell on it – but skip day could not come soon enough for Amy.


	10. Heights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SKIP DAY!!! Carnival fun!!! And the thrilling conclusion!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will they or won't they?? Is it a date or is it not really??

“Santiago, I thought you’d hate this idea” Rosa piped up from the backseat, next to Gina.

“Well if I went to school none of the teachers would actually teach anything since no one else would show up. I also do like to have fun every now and then”

“I’m excited to eat mountains of cotton candy and go on rides, in that order” Jake said from the drivers seat.

He was driving Amy, Rosa, Gina and Charles to the carnival for skip day. Everyone from their grade would be there, and Amy was actually really excited. Then again, she was always excited to spend time with Jake. They were only a few minutes away and Jake looked over at Amy with the biggest and most excited smile she’d ever seen. He looked like a kid, but his child-like wonder and excitement for things was one of the many reasons Amy _lov-liked_ him. She LIKES him.

They arrived and walked towards the entrance. Gina and Rosa were keeping an air of indifference around them, but anyone who knew Rosa well knew that she was excited to test her luck and life on some of the shadier rides and foods on offer. Charles was skipping while Jake and Amy hung back walking close together, Jake almost shaking with excitement and Amy being excited because Jake was excited.

“I’m gonna go find Genevieve! You two have fun!” Charles said, his feet not being able to move fast for him.

“Bye Charles!” Jake and Amy said at the same time, waving to him as he ran off.

“So, what do you guys wanna do first?” Jake said to the three girls with him.

“Rosa and I are gonna find Tiffany and Peter, you two can do whatever” Gina told him, looking up from her phone.

“Tiffany and Peter?” Amy chimed in, incredibly confused at these two people Rosa and Gina seemed to be close with who Amy didn’t know.

“You don’t need to know yet” Rosa said “Lets go Gina”

They walked off together, if one didn’t know better they would look like the scariest power couple to exist. Gina being able to psychologically destroy someone, and Rosa able to physically destroy someone.

“Guess its just us” Jake shrugged his shoulders.

“You did ask me to be your date, so I guess it’s appropriate”

“You make a good point Ames. First thing on the list; cotton candy!”

He grabbed her hand and dragged Amy to the nearest stand selling cotton candy, her laughing the whole time. She didn’t buy her own but would pick off Jakes, surprisingly he didn’t protest at all. Once he had finished his cotton candy he decided it was time for a ride. His first ride of choice was what Amy would describe as spinny. The carriages they sat in spun, the arm they were attached to spun, the whole thing spun. She got dizzy but managed to get herself seeing straight by the time they were walking around the carnival again.

Jake was having trouble keeping straight and linked his arm with Amy’s for support. After the ride, Amy suggested they do something on solid ground, and chose a shoot and win game. The more cans you shoot down, the bigger your prize – easy as pie.

“I’m gonna crush you!” Amy said confidently giving money to the operator.

“Its not about winning Ames, its about having fun. But I’m definitely gonna win, your aim is as bad as your victory dance”

“You can attack my aim, but how dare you attack my killer dance moves”

They picked up the fake guns and took their stances. If Amy was nice, she’d purposely miss a few so Jake didn’t feel as bad. But this was Jake – he insulted her dance moves and she will not let that slide. She hit every can, and Jake hit three – if he was lucky – and the fake pout he wore was almost heartbreaking. Her winning prize was a silly stuffed bunny, Amy actually thought it was quite cute.

“Here you go darling” She said in a jokingly as they walked away, handing Jake the bunny.

“Oh gosh my love, I’m so flattered” He said in a high-pitched voice and awful southern accent.

They both laughed and kept walking around the carnival. Jake chose rides to go on, while Amy chose sideshow games that she would be more likely to win. Jake ate questionable meat out of a food truck, while Amy went safe with some French fries that Jake inevitably stole when he thought she wasn’t looking.

Once it began getting dark Jake suggested the Ferris-wheel so they could see the city lights.

“It’ll be like what we did at Gina’s party, but better because we’re further away from the city”

“Okay okay, we’ll go on it. Aren’t you scared of heights though?”

“ _Noooooo_ I’m fine, I’m a tough boy” He seemed unsure but insisted they go on the Ferris-wheel.

Once they reached the top, it was clear that Jake was perhaps not the tough boy he thought he was. Amy was admiring the city lights and had her hands laying on the chair in between her and Jake, when she looked over he was gripping the bar with white knuckles.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh yeah I’m-I’m fine, its all good, no issues”

The more his voice shook and the more he tried to reassure her, the more she could tell he was scared. As if to add insult to injury, the Ferris-wheel jolted for a moment as it stopped to let more people on at the bottom. As it jolted, Jake squealed and one of his hands flew down to grab Amy’s. Her eyes went wide but moved so that he could hold her hand properly, their fingers intertwined, and he was squeezing a bit too hard but as if Amy was going to complain.

_Oh my god I’m holding hands with Jake, oh my god I’m holding hands with Jake, oh my god this isn’t happened. Oh my god I’m dreaming, this must be a dream. He did it first, he moved his hand first, oh my god. Relax Amy, its fine, everything will be fiiine._

“Its okay to not be okay” She said trying to be comforting.

“I’m not okay, its too high, I don’t like it” He slid closer to her and shoved his head onto her shoulder so he wouldn’t have to look out, and Amy could hear him breathing quickly.

“It’s fine, look at the lights, remember, like Gina’s roof. You calmed me down then, now it’s my turn”

He slowly lifted his head up and his breathing began to go back to normal. Jake looked out at the roofs and lights, his face softening. Amy couldn’t help but think he looked wonderful with the carnival lights illuminating him. Jake looked out at the city lights, but Amy could only look at him now.

Jake was so much to her, her best friend, the one who kept her grounded, her confidante. He was always there for her, and she was there for him. Whether it was the worst breakup ever or replacing stolen markers. They were always there for each other, and Amy’s greatest fear wasn’t heights or Holt’s disapproval – her fear was losing Jake.

He turned back to her, smiling this time, his hand had relaxed but didn’t let go. Amy hoped he didn’t notice her staring at him.

“The lights are so pretty, Ames” His smile was brighter than all the lights combined.

“I know”

“You know what else is pretty?” She raised her eyebrows.

“What?”

“You”

“Oh, uh, thank you” She was thankful for the low lighting because the blush went down to her neck. “You’re pretty too?” He gave a small laugh.

“Thank you”

They had stopped paying attention to the city lights, the carnival, and she thinks Jake must have forgotten how high up they were. In this moment it was just the two of them, looking at each other and contemplating the possibilities.

“Can I kiss you?” Jake asked so quickly Amy almost missed it, but she didn’t she would never miss a question like that.

“Yes please” She responded just as fast.

Jake leaned in and Amy leaned so they could meet in the middle, their lips touching in a way that Amy had only dreamed of. Neither of them are sure how long they stayed like that for until they heard a scream followed by some cheering from the bottom of the Ferris-wheel, they looked down to see what the commotion was.

“FINALLY!!” Charles cheered, he looked like he was crying.

Gina clapped while Rosa wolf whistled, and Amy grew embarrassed of the scene her friends were causing but both her and Jake started laughing.

“Well” Jake said when they had finished laughing.

“Well”

Amy was unsure of how to proceed for the rest of the Ferris-wheel ride.

“Amy Santiago, will you be my girlfriend?”

“Jake Peralta, I will be your girlfriend. On one condition”

“What’s that?” He raised his eyebrows.

“You have to be my boyfriend”

“Of course I will” Now he was smiling wide, perhaps more than when they arrived at the carnival.

He put his arm around her for the rest of the ride and prepared themselves for Charles’ reaction to the news. On the drive home Jake would put his hand on Amy’s knee occasionally while she napped on and off. Every time he did Jake could practically hear Gina and Rosa roll their eyes.

Amy might be dramatic in saying that the last two weeks of school after skip day were the best of her life. Having classes with Jake meant seeing him often, however, he’d try to distract her often. Including – but not limited to – taking her sticky notes, writing messages on them and giving them to Amy to make her smile, playing footsies under the desks, and shooting daggers at Teddy when he asks Amy if he can borrow a pencil or highlighter.

She had gotten into the college she wanted to – studying art history – thanks to an amazing recommendation from Mr Holt. Jake has gotten a summer job and is going to join the police academy afterwards, vowing to dedicate his life to being John McLane (and protect the world from bad guys of course).

Although, Jake and Charles were very disappointed that graduation didn’t involve a big musical number.

“What did you guys expect? Its not like we rehearsed one”

“We just wanted it to be like High School Musical 3: Senior Year” Jake said disappointed.

“What’s the point of graduating if we don’t have a High School Musical 3: Senior Year style dance number” Charles added on.

“I’m so sorry, we can listen to the songs on the way home, would that make you feel better” Amy said patting Jake on the arm.

“Yes it would! You’re the best!” He picked Amy up and swung her around.

“Come on Troy, time to go” She said once she had stopped feeling dizzy.

“Oh my gosh you’ve watched it, I love you more now” Jake froze and his eyes went wide, realised what he said after they’d only been together a couple of weeks. “Uh I mean, that’s cool”

Amy loved Jake too, she had known that for a while, but was worried that it would be too soon for him. Jake isn’t the best at talking about his feelings and Amy didn’t want to push it, make him uncomfortable and push him away from her in the process.

She put a hand on his arm and one on his chest, looking at him with a sweet smile.

“I love you too, Jake”

He breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her up for a kiss.

“Stop sucking face for five seconds so I can take a group pic” Gina barged into their conversation.

The five of them arranged themselves so they all fit, even Rosa joining the picture.

Senior year was wild, but Amy wouldn’t change a thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!!! This was a fun story to write, it might not be great but I write for fun and to write fics with themes that I would wanna read. 
> 
> Thanks again! <3
> 
> Hint: the next chapter is a fun lil extra thing I decided to write at the last minute.


	11. Brilliant Babes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Brilliant Babes group chat

**BRILLIANT BABES (and Charles)**

_February 15 th  
5:35pm_

**Queen G:** its gonna happen at prom.

 **Axe Lady Diaz:** 8 weeks and four days from today

 **Mr Grapes:** That is so specific????

 **Axe Lady Diaz:** that’s when it is gonna happen

 **Queen G:** Prom! Amy can’t dance, Jake will help her or something and *vomiting emoji*

 **Mr Grapes:** I think the week after prom, but I do hope sooner

 **Queen G:** we know Charles  
 **Queen G:** bet on it?

 **Axe Lady Diaz:** terms?

 **Mr Grapes:** whoever is closest gets $50 from the two losers, place your final bets

 **Axe Lady Diaz:** Peralta and Santiago will get together exactly 62 days from today

 **Queen G:** Prom, no doubt

 **Mr Grapes:** the week after prom  
 **Mr Grapes:** deal

 **Queen G:** deal

 **Axe Lady Diaz:** deal

_62 days later_

_9:34pm_

**Mr Grapes:** Rosa, how???

 **Axe Lady Diaz:** 62 days  
 **Axe Lady Diaz:** pay up bitches

 **Queen G:** I cannot believe I was wrong *crying emoji*  
 **Queen G:** I’m still *100 emoji* tho

 **Mr Grapes:** guys  
 **Mr Grapes:** lets be honest  
 **Mr Grapes:** it took them too long to figure it out

 **Queen G:** the flirting was starting to make me sick

 **Axe Lady Diaz:** they’re dumb

 **Mr Grapes:** dumb and in love

 **Queen G:** cool it there its becoming a bit creepy  
 **Queen G:** but you right, Jake wont shut up about her

 **Axe Lady Diaz:** it took them a while, but at least they got there  
 **Axe Lady Diaz:** im happy for them  
 **Axe Lady Diaz:** even happier for the $100 im about to get

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
